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Weird things you Did not Know you Could compost.

I am a huge fan of composting for vegetable gardening. The end product is wonderful for your soil and also makes use of things that are otherwise discarded which end up on the refuse piles and leave a big carbon footprint. The home is full of unusual compost items that you may not have ever thought to throw on the compost pile.

Adding fresh organic matter that has been formed in compost piles is the perfect addition for your vegetable gardens. This organic matter nourishes both the plants and the soil, resulting in healthy plants and higher crop yields.

Most people know that you need both greens and browns in a compost pile and make use of garden waste and kitchen scraps, but their are loads of unusual items that can also be added that many people may not think of.

Unusual Compost Items

When it comes to composting there are some specific rules, such as the ration of green to brown (varies and depends on the pile but normally about 2 green to 3 brown). Other rules are no meat products or plastics.

But there are so many things out there that can be added to a compost pile and some are things you may not have thought of. That dog hair that you get in your vacuum cleaner is a perfect example.

Here are a few of the oddities:

100% cotton balls

Used Matches

Used Tissues

Paper Towels

Wine Corks

Peanut shells

Used Tea bags

Used Coffee Grounds

Contents of vacuum bags

Pizza boxes (clean)

Aquarium water

Pet Hair

Egg shells

Old dried spices

Human hair

Dryer Lint

Stale bread

Bamboo skewers

Toothpicks

Toilet paper rolls

Stale Bread

Stale pretzels

Plain cooked pasta

Shredded junk mail

Crepe paper streamers from parties

Christmas tree (chop it up first with a wood chipper)

Flowers from floral arrangements

Hay bales when your decorations are over

Alcohol from beer bottles after a party (moistens the pile and activates it)

My experience with using hair, dryer lint and vacuum contents is that it doesn’t break down. Perhaps there’s some other reason? I no longer put those things in. Also advise people to chop up things as much as possible to spread up the process! Starbucks as well as other coffee shops will save their spent grounds for you!

Hi. My dryer and vacuum lint seems to break down. It may have something to do with the amount of green to brown. (I have lots of kitchen refuse in mine.) I do agree about breaking things up well. It does speed things up. Carol

I found that if you put most dry ingredients ( tissue tubes , newspaper ,etc ) through a shredder along with your leaves in the fall and dig them in with a fork they almost disappear come spring , also makes a great mulch. …Les..

Hi Eileen. A lot depends on where you live. If you are in the cold north, keeping a compost pile going can be a challenge. The pile needs the right mix of greens and browns. You can keep the green going by adding your kitchen scraps to it. But since plants are not growing, getting the right mix of browns can be tricky. Save your leaves in big garbage bags in the fall if you want to keep feeding the pile over the winter. Be sure to have something surrounding the active compost pile before it gets too cold.

Another solution for winter composting in cold weather is an insulated composter that you can keep in a garage, and then take up the outdoor composting again in the spring.
Carol

You can continue to add things to your compost pile during the winter. Just remember to layer your browns and your greens since you won’t be able to turn it into everything thaws out. I normally have a trashcan of leaves in my shed in case I need some browns during in the winter.
Just the process of freezing and thawing will help to break down your items.

Hi All, I have leftovers from growing my one mushrooms, spawn, strow, grains, coffie ground ans woodchips. All grown with myselium and fungi. Also old or dryed mushrooms go on the compost bin. Also in the worm bin, the worms love it too.

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Hi! I am Carol and I love to garden and cook (with a bit of DIY thrown in for fun.)
I come from a long line of gardeners and have always loved to experiment with food and recipes.
Join me as I cook and garden my way through life.

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